


Coming Into Focus

by imafriendlydalek



Series: Picture This [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Photographer, Artist Steve Rogers, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 06:11:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6503995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imafriendlydalek/pseuds/imafriendlydalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Tony are trying to get back to the Tower when they come across a security guard harassing a homeless kid. Of course they can't let that stand...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Into Focus

**Author's Note:**

> Have some more tiny!photographer!Steve and accidental philanthropist!Tony!

Steve and Tony were passing through a little-used plaza between two office buildings on the way back to Stark Tower when Steve stopped rather unexpectedly and pushed Tony back against a tall pillar. It was unaccustomed for Tony, being manhandled by someone so much smaller than himself, but he had to admit - he kinda liked it.

Okay, more than kinda.

He smiled into Steve’s kiss and brought his hands up to run one through Steve’s hair, the other trailing down the small body pressing resolutely against him. The handful of guys Tony had dated until then had been taller than him, as had a number of the women (why are models so tall?!?!), but few of them had been so _determined_. Steve kissed like he was six-and-a-half feet tall; he could walk into a room and command the space in a way that was simultaneously terrifying and intoxicatingly sexy, much like the way he was licking into Tony’s mouth at that moment.

They were interrupted before things progressed any further, however, by a desperate shout from somewhere at the other end of the plaza.

“No, wait! My sleeping bag! Please!”

Steve and Tony pulled apart, their heads turning in unison to find the source of the sounds.

“Private property, punk. You set up camp here, we take your stuff. Simple as that.” The voice was low and gruff, clearly belonging to the type of person who wasn’t affected by pleas and appeals.

Tony and Steve exchanged a look before they both ducked around the corner into the dark recess that the voices were coming from, Tony just behind Steve.

A man dressed in a black security uniform was towering over a homeless guy, a battered sleeping bag held between them.

“No, please! I’ll freeze without it!” The guy looked no older than 24.

“Hey!” Steve called, both heads whipping around to look at him. There was fear and desperation in the kid’s eyes, contempt in the security guard’s. “How about you just let him have the sleeping bag and move on?”

Steve’s voice was firm yet calm, as if he’d been in a situation like this a hundred times before, but Tony couldn’t help but feel worried for him. That security guard had at least seventy pounds on him, not to mention military training evident in the way he moved.

Towards Steve.

Until he was just inches away from him.

“How ‘bout _you_ just back off, shrimp, and move on?” the security guard growled.

Steve glared back, unflinching.

“Hey, how about _you_ back off,” Tony said, stepping around Steve to nudge the security guard’s shoulder with the back of his hand, “and go back to your protein shakes?”

The guard’s hand snapped up to swat Tony’s away, a fierce glare in his eyes. 

Tony glanced over the guard’s shoulder to see that Steve was now helping the kid to his feet, the sleeping bag in his hand. The guard was too busy looking menacing to take notice.

“Here’s how this is going to work, Rumlow,” Tony said, tapping against the name tag on the man’s chest. “You’re going to take a step back, maybe a deep breath or ten, and continue on your merry way, maybe stop by the hot dog stand on your way back to the guard station, and everything’ll be just aces.”

“Oh yeah?” Rumlow replied with an angry chortle. He crossed his arms across his puffed-out chest. “Why would I do that?”

“Because,” Tony said, his voice even as he pulled out his phone and tapped into the screen, “you probably get some sort of weird pleasure from your position at Cryton Security and I imagine you’d like to keep it.”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t? My job is to keep this plaza clear, and you’re the one getting in the way of my doing that.”

Steve nodded to Tony over Rumlow’s shoulder as he ushered the kid to safety.

“Because it just so happens that Cryton is a subsidiary of Stark Security Solutions. Which I happen to own.” Tony flashed his best Tony Stark™ grin.

The grin on Rumlow’s face withered; he suddenly looked about a foot shorter.

For good measure, Tony added “And while I know that maintaining security is the heart of Cryton’s business, seizing and damaging a person’s belongings is _not_ in line with the values of _any_ Stark company, and not tolerated from any of its employees.”

He didn’t wait for a response from Rumlow - he really didn’t care to hear what the guy could possibly have to say.

***

Tony found Steve and the kid around the corner, each with a cup of steaming coffee in their hands.

“What, none for me?” Tony asked with a playful tone as he pressed a kiss into Steve’s hair.

Steve smiled and leaned down to pick up a cup sitting on the ledge just behind him. “Nah, just two for me,” he said, handing the extra cup over to Tony. “Sorry for leaving you alone with him. You seemed to have it under control, though, and I wanted to get Jimmy out of there.”

“No worries,” Tony said with a wave of his hand, realizing too late that he was holding hot coffee. “He won’t be a problem anymore. I may have to launch some employee reviews soon, though.”

Tony took a deep sip of the coffee and wiped his hand on his pants as he looked the kid over. There was a wild look in his eye, an uneasiness that screamed of some sort of traumatic experience. Which made sense, considering his age and that he was living on the streets.

“So, Jimmy, Steve and I were just about to grab some dinner. How about you join us?”

The kid’s eyes widened with a mixture of fear and trepidation before settling on his very worn sneakers. “I- I’m fine. I couldn’t... _intrude_ like that,” he stammered.

Steve reached over to touch the kid’s sleeve. “I know a place around the corner that makes great hot sandwiches. We can just go get some and eat ‘em outside.”

The kid looked up, relief flickering in his eyes. Of course. Tony hadn’t thought of that, that the kid might not feel comfortable going inside somewhere. He’d probably been kicked out of restaurants and cafes often enough because of his appearance that he gave them a wide berth.

“You like meatballs?” Steve asked. “They make a mean good meatball hero.”

Tony tried and failed to stifle a giggle at “meatballs”. Steve rolled his eyes but Jimmy’s mouth quirked with a hint of a smile, his demeanor brightening at Tony’s silly behavior.

***

They wound up on a bench outside the sandwich shop, an array of heroes and sandwiches and french fries spread out in front of them. Jimmy looked slightly overwhelmed as he picked up a section of meatball hero and bit into it, sauce dribbling out the other end.

Conversation was halting at first but got easier once they all had some food in their bellies. Jimmy had been in the Army, it turned out, but had been discharged because of injuries he sustained during a tour in Afghanistan. 

“Just never quite got the hang of being back,” he said with a shrug around a mouthful of fries slathered in ketchup. His benefits had run out before he’d managed to find a job he could hold down, and with no family network to fall back on, he’d eventually ended up on the streets.

Tony frowned and tapped a reminder into his phone to increase the Maria Stark Foundation’s donations to veterans’ programs.

It was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it, when they all finally admitted that it was time to move on. Jimmy protested, but Tony insisted as they headed to the Holiday Inn a few blocks over, where Tony paid for Jimmy to stay for a few nights. He pressed a card into Jimmy’s hand with instructions to call - he would get housing set up for Jimmy in the meantime. There was bound to be a scholarship program that Jimmy was eligible for as well. Tony could make that happen

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Jimmy asked, the bewilderment evident in his voice.

“You did your part for this country, seems like it’s time someone repaid you for the favor,” Tony replied with a shrug.

He glanced over and saw Steve staring up at him, a fond expression in his eyes. Tony reached over and squeezed his hand.

Two weeks ago, Tony would have passed by a scuffle in a dark corner without a second glance or a care in the world about what was going on. Now here he was, fighting off bullies with a few clever words and making an actual difference in someone’s life. 

It was all because of Steve, this tiny, beautiful, determined ball of idealism.

And that’s when it hit Tony, like in every cliched chick flick he’d ever been forced to sit through: Steve genuinely made him want to be a better person. Not just _want to be_ \- here he was, actually doing that. Not just throwing cash at an organization that would do good deeds with it but truly helping someone. Steve brought that part of him out, a part of him that had maybe always been there, had just lain dormant as Tony had gotten too wrapped up in building things and playing the part of Tony Stark™, genius billionaire playboy. Maybe he’d lost sight of who Anthony Stark actually was. 

As he looked over at Steve, his hair mussed by the wind and a fleck of marinara sauce in the corner of this mouth but a happy smile on his face as he looked back at Tony, Tony realized that this was where he was meant to be. Here, with Steve.

Geez, he was turning into a sap too.

“Come on, you,” he said, reaching out to run his hand through Steve’s hair and comb it back into place with his fingers. “Let’s get out of here. You wanted to see my Rauschenberg.”

“And here I was starting to think that was just a ploy to get me back to your place,” Steve said as he hooked his arm around Tony’s. “And I thought it was a de Kooning?”

Tony grinned. “Why choose when you can have both?” 

Steve snorted and shook his head in disbelief. “Of course. Why not?” he said drily.

“Don’t sass me, Little Sassmaster. Pepper says it’s a good investment.”

They continued their banter as they walked, and soon they had actually made it to Stark Tower without getting into any more incidents. The sparkle in Steve’s eyes as Tony showed him his modern art collection - at least the pieces that weren’t in storage - was practically intoxicating. The art had always been Pepper’s pet project, but Tony suddenly felt an urge to pay more attention to it.

“We keep most of it in storage,” Tony felt compelled to explain, running a hand through his hair as he said it.

“Oh yeah?” Steve asked, cocking his head to the side as if he was contemplating Tony’s words. He shifted to face Tony, ran his hand over Tony’s hip before sliding it around him to pull him closer. There was determination in that touch, and in Steve’s look. “Guess you’ll have to invite me back to see the rest some other time.”

He actually winked, all mischief and resolution, that little bastard, before he leaned up to press a firm kiss against Tony’s lips.

Tony gave up holding back - at least they weren’t running any risks of a public indecency charge anymore (not that that had ever been much of a deterrent for him anyway) - and let the moment take over.

***

Steve was pressed up against Tony’s side, his nose mashed into Tony’s armpit as he snored quietly. This was usually where Tony would extricate himself from the situation, wander down to the workshop and instruct JARVIS to see to it that his visitor found their way out alright when they woke up.

Tony didn’t really feel the urge to get up, though. In fact, he was quite enjoying the quiet post-coital glow. He was having a Moment.

A snore/grunt/sigh came from Steve, and it was probably anything but attractive, but Tony caught himself smiling at the sound. He craned his neck to get a better look at the blond head and deliciously naked body curled around him, and Steve shifted at the movement.

“Hey,” he said sleepily, blinking as he looked up at Tony. The room was mostly dark, the only light coming from the full moon, but Steve’s eyes were practically dazzling.

“Hey yourself,” Tony replied. “Sorry to wake you.” He stretched his leg, which was starting to fall asleep.

“You want me to go?” 

“Nonononono, stay. Just my leg, it was falling asleep.”

“Okay, good,” Steve replied, his voice trailing off as if he was thinking about something.

“Stay as long as you want,” Tony added as he squeezed Steve’s shoulder.

Steve rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up so he could trace over the dip in Tony’s chest. He smiled impishly. “You know, I might just take you up on that.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case you haven't seen it already, I commissioned the amazing Superfizz to do some art for this series - Steve and Tony going out for coffee, just after the end of the first installment. You can find it on [tumblr](http://superfizz.tumblr.com/post/142151959403)
> 
> You can also find me on [tumblr](http://imafriendlydalek.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Since I've had a few questions about it: Jimmy is the name of the soldier in Iron Man 1 next to Tony in the "Funvee", and the kid here is named in reference to him. Obv Tony hasn't been to Afghanistan in this AU (yet?), so there's no history between them besides this encounter.


End file.
